the plague cometh (again)

We managed to go two years and three months into the pandemic before our first tangle with the pangolins revenge in mid November 2022. After starting strong, we’ve fallen rapidly, and this week, took our fourth turn around the dance floor with the ‘vid in three years. I guess it’s good to get it out of the way before Christmas this year, rather than last years effort of Christmas Eve Eve.

Sunday night, just forty minutes after picking the kiddos up from youth group camp, and ten minutes into our weekly video call with Bear, who is still in the big smoke wrapping up his first year of uni, Butterfly announced she had a sore throat and wasn’t feeling great.

“Say bye to your brother and off to bed, madame,” says I. My calendar is full to bursting with more being added daily, and even a garden-variety cold would be a major spanner in the works. By Monday morning she was worse, and I mentioned to my group chat that it better not be covid, I didn’t have time for covid.

Then the email landed. Covid had been detected within the group. Of course it had. THEN Boy2 came home from work feeling revolting and took himself off to bed at 7.30pm. By Tuesday, they were both testing positive and completely flattened.

So here we are, day four. Beetle, Mr Barefoot and I seem to be spared (for now). We’re laying low though, and I will confess a nice silver lining is that I haven’t been to town a single time since Sunday, and it’s now Thursday. That never happens (outside of covid, and the first lockdown), so it’s been a nice change of pace.

Beetle and I have been baking and playing games and powering through school since he’s the only student at the table. There’s been icecream afternoon teas and Christmas shopping and cheeky yarn shopping. Aeroplane simulator games for him and sonic the hedgehog games for me.

The two patients are slowly, slowly improving, though I think they’ll remain contained to their rooms for the next few days until they feel properly well. Work shifts have been cancelled and they have been napping more than anything.

Fingers crossed we’ve stopped the spread for now. It’s been a good chance to slow down and get a few home projects done, but time waits for no wench, and all the things I’ve been putting off still need doing. Plus the way I’ve been adding advent projects to my list while in iso, I may spontaneously combust in a festive mushroom cloud of floss and glitter paint if I’m left unoccupied too much longer….